Govt accused of sidelining lower rung workers in ROP

Dimapur, November 19 (MExN): Senior government employees of the Nagaland government today said there are discrepancies in the recent 6th ROP the Government of Nagaland notified to come into affect from April 1, 2010. The state’s Finance department had notified recently that the ROP has been set for implementation  by  2010.
The Nagaland Senior Government Employees’ Welfare Association today listed out  discrepancies in the ROP which pointed to the lack of parity among the various categories of government cadres. The association said the 6th ROP “is found full of injustice and discrimination” all thanks to the “greedy and selfish  Fitment Committee members.” For instance Grade-III and Grade-IV employees have been sidelined with nominal hike while the superior cadres have been given huge margin increases.
“For instance Pay Band S-9 is getting 16% hike where as Pay Band S-19 is getting 120% hike where as the immediate higher cadre at Pay Band S-19 is getting 120% raise. The different (sic) in poll-wide,” stated the NSGEWA in a note today. The association stated that the discrepancy is an injustice and discrimination.
The association further said that all the Fitment Committee members must be from the “Pay Band S-19” and so maximum hike was given to their own cadres while nominal hike and benefits were given to the Grade-III and Grade-IV employees. Grade-III and Grade-IV employees constitute the bulk of the Nagaland government employees belonging to the “Pay Band S-1” to “S-11”.
The NSGEWA clarified that it was not saying that all different categories of the government employees should get flat rate benefits. “…but the variation must be reasonable and without discrimination. Preferably the hike percentage for all categories may be same e.g. 100% or so. According to the present notification, Pay Band S-19 and above 120% hike while Pay Band S-9, 8 and 18 are getting 15% and 20% hike respectively,” the association stated.
“One can easily judge how greedy and selfish the Fitment Committee members for they worked for themselves and the top bureaucrats in the state without considering the plight of Grade-III and Grade-IV. This Fitment Committee report is highly discriminated, anti-poor and not acceptable,” the NSGEWA added.